A Letter From Home
by Light Under My Skin
Summary: Life, almost by definition, is unpredictable. It can change – literally – on a dime or, in this case, a letter. This is the story of how Lily Evans' life changed completely and irrevocably. For the bad… and for the good. Written for HPFC Challenge.
1. Chapter 1

HPFC Challenge: "A Deathly Hallows Quote Competition" : Quotes (underlined in the story) : Lily drew herself up to her fullest height and said, wish as much contempt as she could muster, "And what do you want?" and "I merely sought to greet you. But if my presence is not welcome…"

Summary: Life, almost by definition, is unpredictable. It takes pride in its ability to bring out the unexpected, and it can change – literally – on a dime or, in this case, a letter. This is the story of how Lily Evans' life changed completely and irrevocably. For the bad… and for the good.

1

Lily Evans was not having a good day.

It had started, as days generally do, before the sunrise, in the late hours of the night, where the moon reigns in it silent kingdom. It had been a beautiful one too, this morning's starless night, though it was made less pleasant by the fact that Lily had been up to witness it. Normally, during the time where the moon reigned, she was tucked safely in her warm, four-poster bed, dreaming in peace. Normally, she was not aware of the world, or of the lack of stars in the sky, or of the cold, or of anything other than her pillow, her blanket, and her dreams.

Normally, she was not being pecked by an owl.

Now, to be woken up by an owl is not a very pleasant thing, especially not at some ungodly hour of the morning, and _especially _not when the owl smelled. Wrinkling her nose and trying not to gag, Lily tried to shoo the owl away, to no avail. It was a persistent thing, this creature, and though he did fly backwards at her flailing arms, he was soon back on her bed, prodding her roughly as he held out his leg. Frustrated, and only slightly with her wits about her, Lily untied the letter from the owl's leg, taking in the letter's haggard appearance. Then, as if he couldn't leave without getting her attention at least once more, the owl hooted indignantly, flying quickly towards her face before veering sharply and exiting through the open window. Behind him, the moon still dominated, shining its gentle flow on the snowy mountains that curled protectively around Hogwarts. Yet still, even it the moon's peaceful silence, Lily couldn't help but feel a grim heaviness in the letters thin contents.

Thinking it would be best not to wait to read the letter – because, surely, anything delivered at this hour was sure to be important – Lily carefully unrolled it, taking in the few words on the parchment.

Her first thought, immediately, was rejection, disbelief. Surely, it was a prank, some sick humor from the universe, designed to punish her. But then, as she looked at the signature at the bottom of the page, staring at it with such intensity that she felt her gaze would literally burn through the paper, Lily knew that it wasn't a joke. Petunia might hate her sister, might call her a freak at every opportunity, and might attempt to disown her sister… but this was not a prank.

_Mom and Dad were in a car crash earlier tonight. They died on the way to the hospital. – Petunia_

There were more words, blurred out by tears her sister had shed not too long ago. Lily could only read a few, and those too became blurry as tears sprung into her own eyes, as she was forced to believe the truths on the paper, without another alternative. As Lily stared at the small signature, at the name of the only relative she had left, she could feel sobs escape her, and for once in her life, Lily did not try to control herself. Tears poured over her face and down onto her lap as she violently took the parchment in her hands, ripping them into tiny pieces and then ripping those. It was evil, the paper, these pieces, and all she wanted was to kill it, to make sure that it would never bear this bad news to anyone again.

Memories flashed through her mind, memories of her parents and little things – things she'd taken for granted without even realized it. She would never hear her father chuckle again, she realized, or see her mother planting more flowers in the garden. Her parents would never hug her, or pick her up at Kings Cross Station. She'd never be able to see the love, shining between her parents, assuring her that it was possible – that magical "true love."

They were gone.

More tears crashed down Lily's cheeks, waves during a thunderstorm, not knowing where to turn and thus creating chaos wherever they could. Petunia's parchment became nothing more than a lump of goo, and yet still Lily wished it gone, gone forever. Why should the parchment be allowed to live, why should anyone be allowed to live, if her parents were no longer alive?

No longer seeing any sense, Lily dashed out of her bed, almost slipping on the stone floor. The tile was freezing beneath her bare feet, but no pain could bother Lily now, not now that the biggest pain of all had enveloped her. Angry – furious even – she dashed down to the common room, ready to scream and yell and curse at the world, only to stop when she reached the fire. Everything, literally everything, had changed in the light of the moon's glow, in the shadow of the retreating owl and in the darkness of her parent's void. Even the fireplace was mourning with her, and it was no longer cheerily heating up the Gryffindor Common Room as it always did. Any hour of the day, the fire was on, merrily paying witness to the decades of Hogwarts students.

No however, it was off, as the fire mourned with Lily.

Lily could remember a time when her mother had told her that her hair was on fire, and that her father had playfully upended a bucket of water on her hair, triumphantly claiming to "have put the fire out" and dulled her vibrant red hair to a darker, mellower maroon. She could remember her mother burning herself while cooking, how her father had taken her mothers hand – oh so gently – and kissed it, as he would kiss Lily's when she was younger, before bandaging it and taking her mother to the hospital. She could remember the fire of her parents anger when she and Petunia had fought for an entire day, could remember the heat in her mothers gaze as she looked at her daughters with utter disappointment.

Lily could remember promising herself that, once she came back home, after Hogwarts, she'd make everything better.

She realized that now, she didn't have a chance to make up for lost time with her parents, that now, everything she'd done, every mistake she didn't apologize for, was irreversible. They were gone now, both of them, and nothing Lily could do would ever change that.

There comes a time, after a loved one dies, that the person simply accepts the fact and, oftentimes, looses all hope. When Lily sat down on the Common Room couch that day, with not even the typical fire for company, she began to loose hope in life.


	2. Chapter 2

HPFC Challenge: "A Deathly Hallows Quote Competition" : Quotes (underlined in the story) : Lily drew herself up to her fullest height and said, wish as much contempt as she could muster, "And what do you want?" and "I merely sought to greet you. But if my presence is not welcome…"

Summary: Life, almost by definition, is unpredictable. It takes pride in its ability to bring out the unexpected, and it can change – literally – on a dime or, in this case, a letter. This is the story of how Lily Evans' life changed completely and irrevocably. For the bad… and for the good.

2

James Potter was having a very good day.

It had started, as days generally do, in his bed, though James was quite perplexed as to why it was so early. Typically, the Marauders didn't wake up until after at least eleven on weekends and, if James was right (and he usually was) it was a Saturday today. Yet, despite all these quite obvious facts, James was awake, and he was going to stay that way for a while.

Now, James sometimes has what he likes to call instinct, and his instincts would tell him to go somewhere, or do something. Sometimes, James couldn't tell why doing a certain thing had been a good idea, while other times it clearly paid off. James remembered, just last week, when instinct had prompted him to head down to Potions, even though he had a Herbology class that same hour. Bidding adieu to his friends, and unable to explain to them exactly where he was going, James had allowed his feet to carry him off towards Slughorn's classroom, where he'd found the Professor in need of some help moving things. The work had been boring, as he'd had to listen to Slughorn's bragging and praises for the whole hour of work, but he'd later learned that he'd missed a bad batch of Bronticus Hillplights in Herbology, and that he'd been the only member of the class to avoid being sent to the Infirmary. In fact, he'd been the only member of the class that hadn't spent dinnertime retching in the Infirmary, a point that Sirius was still a little sore about.

Considering how much that boy drank, you'd think he'd be used to retching by now.

Nonetheless, James had learned to listen to his instinct, and right now, his instinct was telling him that the Common Room – or at least, down the dormitory stairs – would be a good place to be.

This time however, you could call James' instincts "fate."

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, James noticed three things, each in quick succession of the other. The first thing he noticed, especially because of his thin pajamas, was the extraordinarily cold air in the Common Room. Then, he realized that the fire, for some reason, was out, and that the only light in the room was the sunshine that was streaming through the window. He had, in fact, woken up in time for the sunrise, and the sun was in the middle of its process of peeking out from behind the mountains. Lastly, James realized that he wasn't alone in the Common Room, as he could quite clearly make out an unmistakable head of the most vivid red hair.

"Lily!" he exclaimed, surprised and pleased. It was rare for the two to have moments alone, and James had begun to relish them. True, before this year, a moment alone with Lily Evans might result in her hexing him straight to the Infirmary, but after he'd become Head Boy, Lily had allowed him a grudging acceptance into the "acquaintance" circle of hers, and he'd recently managed to obtain a much sought after "friend" title. Of course, being Lily's friend isn't what James wanted – not at all – but after long, deliberate, and sometimes painful deliberation, he had realized that the only way to make Lily fall in love with him (and to make her realize that he was in love with her) was to prove to her that he could be mature, and then take it from there.

So, it was no surprise that James was happy at seeing Lily, especially as they were alone, but Lily didn't have the same reaction to his presence, nor any reaction that he could have expected, now that he was her friend. Because, as James watched, Lily drew herself up to her fullest height and said, wish as much contempt as she could muster, "And what do you want?"

The bitter hatred in her tone acted as a shove against James' fragile (ahem "manly") heart as he literally took a step backwards, away from her seething rage. She hadn't even dignified his presence with her face, as she was still facing away from him as she'd spit those words out at him, glaring with her fists clenched at the still unlit fireplace.

Now, having studied Lily Evans for the better part of seven years, James could tell, instantly, that there was something wrong with the girl of his dreams. Lily, he'd learned from painful experimentation, was nothing if not logical, and, if she was being rude to him, there was probably a reason. Yet still, James (as usual) couldn't keep his emotions in check, and his defensive mechanism kicked into gear as he responded just as icily.

"I merely sought to greet you. But if my presence is not welcome…" truly, James was not angry with Lily. He'd tried before, to be angry at her – to get mad and not forgive her until she apologized – but, truly, he just couldn't do it. He'd found, long ago, that one of the downsides at being helplessly in love with someone is that they're always right, and – at least in James' eyes – Lily could never be wrong. Still, James was hurt and confused at Lily's words. He'd "grown up," just for her, and she'd accepted him, promised that she could overlook his past mistakes if he didn't make any more. She'd even understood last month's prank on the Slytherin bathrooms and, though she had desperately tired to hide it from him, he'd been sure he'd seen a smile at her face when someone brought her the news. James had been sure, absolutely certain, that he'd started getting somewhere with her, but just as that certainty had kicked in, there she went again, glaring at the wall, unable to even _look _at him out of hatred.

Frustrated, confused, and hurt, he turned to go, but just as he'd put his foot on the first step of the dormitory stairs, he heard her stir from behind him, and he caught the mere breath of a desolate whisper from behind him, "James…"

Turning, already prepared to accept her apology, to forgive her and continue talking about the morning and whatever else came to their minds, he felt his words die in his throat. Though Lily could never look less than beautiful to James, she was tragic that morning, standing there alone in the Common Room. Her eyes were rimmed in red and there were tears drifting down her face as more splashed out of her eyes even now. She was wearing her nightdress, and James realized with a start that, if he was cold, she must have been freezing.

Quickly, his heart beating heavily for her, he unbuttoned his pajama top, rushing to her just as she collapsed out of fatigue and grief. James caught her, cradling her delicately as one would a porcelain flower, not the real thing, he carefully lowered her onto the couch, holding onto her firmly as she clutched to him desperately. He draped his shirt around her shoulders, gently easing her arms into it and then just simply holding her as she cried into his bare skin. He didn't know how long they stayed there, him holding her, and her crying, but it was long enough for others to awaken, to see them and hastily retreat, either out of the Portrait Hole of back to their dormitories. Even her friends kept their distance, understanding that, for once, this wasn't something they could mend with simple soothing words and loving smiles. No one knew exactly _what _had happened to Lily Evans, but everyone knew that, today, the world was a sad, sad place.


	3. Chapter 3

HPFC Challenge: "A Deathly Hallows Quote Competition" : Quotes (underlined in the story) : Lily drew herself up to her fullest height and said, wish as much contempt as she could muster, "And what do you want?" and "I merely sought to greet you. But if my presence is not welcome…"

Summary: Life, almost by definition, is unpredictable. It takes pride in its ability to bring out the unexpected, and it can change – literally – on a dime or, in this case, a letter. This is the story of how Lily Evans' life changed completely and irrevocably. For the bad… and for the good.

3

For days after the news, Lily walked around like a zombie, a mummy in Hogwarts robes. The vivacious, lighthearted girl left Hogwarts for a while, leaving an entire castle of melancholy students in her wake. Even those who had never met her grieved with her, and the hallways were inhabited by grave whispers, instead of their usual boisterous noise. The teachers wore black and bowed their heads, eyes taunt with worry for the girl that, for so many years, had filled their life with joy. Everyone, from the small to the very old to the dead, worried for Lily Evans, and everyone grieved for her loss.

The transformation of Lily Evans was such a deep one that many couldn't be in her presence any more, not without breaking into tears themselves. To have the essence of life crumple into a sample of death was too much for almost anyone, and it was such pain that she would have been alone, if it were not for him.

James Potter.

In the time following her parents' death, James did not leave Lily's side except when it was time for her to shower, and even then he only left reluctantly. Unable to deny the necessity of bathing, he would dash into the shower returning to her side as fast as he could manage and returning to his vigil, waiting outside her door for her to finish before resuming his constant companionship with her. He even obtained permission from Dumbledore himself to sleep with her – not that any man, in his right mind, would have objected in a time like this – though more often than not, they didn't sleep. Instead, he would hold her as she cried, much as he had on that first morning, on that first black day. Many in the castle thought that Lily had stopped crying over her parents death, but James knew that she hadn't stopped, she was only saving it for nighttime, when less people could worry about her.

Even in the midst of her grief, she still managed to think about others.

Eventually, life was coaxed back into Lily Evans. It wasn't an easy process, nor was it a sudden one, but it was the sort of healing that only came when someone cared about you more than the world itself.

And that someone, for Lily Evans, was James Potter.

Slowly, as one would draw a timid dog out into the sunlight, James brought Lily out into the light. Slowly, in ways only the Marauders knew, James brought laugher into her life, showed her that there was death yes, but all around them, there was life as well.

Slowly, James Potter brought Lily back from the dead.

And then, when she'd finally been cured, when she finally allowed James to open her eyes, finally stopped fighting him and the happiness he was trying to bring to her life, something happened that everyone had been expecting. Some, like Dumbledore and the other Professors, had been awaiting this occasion for six years while to others – mainly Lily herself – it came as a complete surprise. But, nevertheless, Lily Evans fell in love with James Potter, just as fate had said she would.

And every day, for the rest of their lives, they reminded each other that life might be hard yes, but it was worth living.


End file.
